With her 6-2, 6-1 victory on Saturday over Sweden’s Johanna Larsson in the third round of the US Open, Williams earned her 307th victory in Grand Slam singles events.
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The dynamic sister duo first appeared at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens in 1997 for a doubles match on Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day – an exhibition match before the Open officially began.
Larsson fell behind quickly as Williams broke her at the first opportunity and again to close out the first set. Third-seeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, clad in a mostly pink shirt, showed his veteran resilience against the threat of the talented Dan Evans of Britain, surviving a match point in the fourth-set tiebreaker with a drop volley.
Sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan, two years removed from his run to the final, rallied for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win over Frances Nicolas Mahut.
“I’m happy with putting wins under my belt”, she said after the match. In her post-match interview, she called them her “Wonder Woman sleeves”.
“I was really excited to reach 307”, Williams said.
Halep, who fell in the semi-finals to eventual champion Flavia Pennetta a year ago, will play Spain s Carla Suarez Navarro for place in the quarter-finals. Williams saved six of Siegemund’s seven break point tries to take the lead on the returns.
Williams, 34, won her first grand slam at Flushing Meadows in 1999 and is on the verge of a record seventh U.S. title.
Serena Williams has become the outright most successful women’s player at major tennis championships at the US Open.
Elsewhere, unseeded Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro, who lost out to Murray in an epic gold medal match at Rio 2016, continued his comeback following a number of injuries with a 7-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Spain’s David Ferrer to reach the US Open fourth round for the first time since 2012.
Murray advances to play 22nd-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, who put away Joao Sousa for a 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 win.
Venus will have the tougher opponent as the sixth seed faces No. 10 Karolina Pliskova. In 2015 she made two quarterfinals and this year reached the semis at Wimbledon while working her way back up to No. 6 in the WTA rankings.
Monday’s other fourth-round women’s matchups will be No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska vs.
Serena’s next victory would push her past Federer’s total, likely generating more discussion about whether Williams is one of the best athletes, male or female, of all time.
Serena was the overwhelming favorite on the odds coming into this year’s U.S. Open tournament at +130 on the money line.
Detail of Serena Williams’ Nike sneakers.
Last year’s semifinalist, fifth seed Simona Halep also needed 3 sets to beat 31st seed Timea Babos 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 and will take on 11th seed Carla Suarez Navarro now, who defeated 19th seed Elena Vesnina of Russian Federation 6-4, 6-3. Yaroslava Shvedova was able to break Shuai Peng five times in ten attempts.
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On Saturday, the US Open set a single-session attendance record. “She’s unsafe”, Mouratoglou said about Shvedova.
